1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a package for the encapsulation of electronic components and, notably, capacitors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The capacitors made according to a known method, for example by the successive stacking of foils of metallized films, require an external protection in order to improve their resistance to shocks and give them a better external appearance.
Generally, the packaging of capacitor type components consists in inserting the component, provided with two connection wires, into a package having an open face. Before or after the insertion of the component, the package is filled with a solidifiable liquid resin. The connection wires come out of the package upwards. The resin fills the unoccupied space between the package and the component. In solidifying, it holds the component solidly in the package.
The packages used may have a rectangular parallelepiped shape and a rectangular bottom, two small lateral faces, two large lateral faces and only one face opposite the open bottom.
Rectangular parallelepiped shaped components are encapsulated in this type of package. These components include two connection wires fixed into the central part of the small lateral faces.
The dimensions of the package are adjusted to those of the component with a view to obtaining reduced bulkiness.
The package also has means for guiding the connection wires of the component. These guiding means are located within the package on its lateral faces. Their shape enables the component to be inserted by a substantially vertical motion directed from the top downwards if the package is laid down on its bottom. When the connection wires are located on the small lateral faces of the component, in their central part, the guiding means are preferably located in the central part of the small lateral faces of the package. There are as many guiding means as there are connection wires.
To encapsulate components such as these automatically, at a high working rate, the connection wires of the components may be fixed to a vertical conveyor belt, the component being placed at the bottom of the belt. A package laid on its bottom is presented beneath each component, its open face pointed upwards. To insert the component into the package by a substantially vertical movement from the top downwards, the component must be aligned with the package. The lateral faces of the package must be parallel to the lateral faces of the component. But this is not enough.
Each connection wire must also be aligned with a guiding means. The lateral faces of the package bearing the guiding means must be parallel to the lateral faces of the component bearing the connection wires, if the component and the package have the above-described structures.
For this purpose, a vibratory bowl feeder is used. It distributes the packages and orients them all so that the guiding means are aligned with the connection wires. This orientation is done by the identifying of the small lateral faces or of the large lateral faces.
The need to optimize the capacitive volume of the stacked capacitors has led to making capacitors with square-shaped foils of metallized film.
As there is a continuing search for space on the printed circuits on which capacitors are mounted, the idea of encapsulating them in square-bottomed packages has been put forward. These square-bottomed packages are designed like conventional rectangular-bottomed packages, with as many means for guiding the connection wires as there are connection wires of the component. Capacitors and other components can be encapsulated in these square-bottomed packages.
As the package has a square bottom, its lateral faces are equal. The vibratory bowl feeder cannot detect the position of the guiding means, and cannot distribute the packages in a suitably oriented state.
These packages cannot be inserted into a standard automated encapsulation chain working at a fast rate.